First off thank you very, very much for the comprehensive answer! Exactly what I was looking for.
And to answer your questions:
I'm not tied to any particular lcd. My only requirements are size and resolution: 4.3” backlit lcd display
@ 480x272 resolution.
I will be writing the c++ based application. I have extensive c++/c experience, both high and low level programming. emulators, etc.
To provide a better high-level user experience description;
I want to send data that would normally be drawn to a window through gdi/directx/opengl instead through the usb port to a connected lcd display with the above specs. The only difference between this and a regular display monitor is that windows (or any other OS I write the software for) should not recognize this as an output display. Because of this small distinction and these seemingly minimal requirements, i didn't want to over-architect this. Perhaps there's actually an off the shelf implementation/library package/kit that suits my needs. So far though, I haven't found this.